In recent years, an air conditioning system for independently cooling or heating a plurality of vehicle room regions has been developed. For example, there has been developed and used a dual-zone-type air conditioning system for independently cooling or heating a driver seat region and a front passenger seat region of a vehicle room.
In the dual-zone-type air conditioning system, as shown in FIG. 1, a driver seat side path 14 and a front passenger seat side path 16 are formed inside an air conditioner case 10. The air conditioning system individually controls the temperatures and volumes of the air supplied to a driver seat region and a front passenger seat region through the driver seat side path 14 and the front passenger seat side path 16. This makes it possible to independently cool or heat the driver seat region and the front passenger seat region.
The dual-zone-type air conditioning system further includes an air volume distribution door 20 installed on the upstream side of the driver seat side path 14 and the front passenger seat side path 16.
The air volume distribution door 20 is swung between the driver seat si de path 14 and the front passenger seat side path 16 to adjust the opening degrees of the driver seat side path 14 and the front passenger seat side path 16. Thus, the air volume distribution door 20 distributes the volume of the air introduced from a blower 30 into the driver seat side path 14 and the front passenger seat side path 16. This makes it possible to control the discharged air volume of the air supplied to the driver seat region and the front passenger seat region.
The dual-zone-type air conditioning system controls the air volume distribution door 20 and the blower 30 in association with each other, thereby adjusting a discharged air volume level in the driver seat region and a discharged air volume level in the front passenger seat region.
If the temperatures in the driver seat region and the front passenger seat region are individually set by a user or if the discharged air volume levels in the driver seat region and the front passenger seat region are manually set by a user, the air conditioning system intimately controls the opening position of the air volume distribution door 20 with respect to the driver seat side path 14 and the front passenger seat side path 16 and the rotational speed, of the blower 30 in conformity with the temperatures and the discharged air volume levels set by the user. This makes it possible to independently control the discharged air volume level in the driver seat region and the discharged air volume level in the front passenger seat region in conformity with the preset temperature or the preset discharged air volume level.
In this regard, the opening positions of the air volume distribution door 20 and the rotational speeds of the blower 30 are stored in advance as table values in association with the preset temperatures in the driver seat region and the front passenger seat region and the discharged air volume levels in the driver seat region and the front passenger seat region.
Accordingly, If the temperatures in the driver seat region and the front passenger seat region are individually set by a user or if the discharged air volume levels in the driver seat region and the front passenger seat region are manually set by a user, the opening position of the air volume distribution door 20 corresponding to the preset temperatures and the rotational speed of the blower 30 corresponding to the preset discharged air volume levels are detected from the table values.
The opening position of the air volume distribution door 20 and the rotational speed of the blower 30 are controlled according to the detected table value. Thus, the discharged air volume level in the driver seat region and the discharged air volume level in the front passenger seat region are independently controlled in conformity with the preset temperature or the preset discharged air volume level.
The conventional dual-zone-type air conditioning system is advantageous in that the driver seat region and the front passenger seat region can be independently cooled or heated by individually controlling the temperatures and volumes of the air supplied to the driver seat region and the front passenger seat region. However, the conventional dual-zone-type air conditioning system has a drawback in that the user convenience is insufficient.
For example, a user wishes to control both the discharged air volume level in the driver seat region and the discharged air volume level in the front passenger seat region to a maximum air volume level while independently cooling or heating the driver seat region and the front passenger seat region, it is necessary for the user to operate two air volume level switches one by one to set the maximum air volume level. Thus, it is onerous and inconvenient to use the air volume level switches.
As another example, when the vehicle room temperature is very high or low, there may be a case where a user controls the vehicle room temperature to a maximum cooling temperature or a maximum heating temperature. In this case, if the driver seat region and the front passenger seat region are cooled or heated independently, only the region for which the maximum cooling temperature or the maximum heating temperature is selected is controlled to the maximum air volume level. This may reduce the effect of cooling or heating the vehicle room at the maximum cooling temperature or the maximum heating temperature.
In order to make sure that the region for which the maximum cooling temperature or the maximum heating temperature is not selected is cooled or heated at the maximum air volume level, it is required to separately operate the corresponding switch. This may reduce the user convenience and may lead to user complaint.